Intro resources - Aust History - from NMA

1. First contacts and
resistance between
Indigenous Australians
and early settlers.
Source Analysis

2. A selection of source material from the
National Museum of Australia (NMA)
NMA Collections Search - Film negative - Different ways of wearing the hair,
Petermann Ranges, Northern Territory, photographed by Herbert Basedow, 1926

3. Fanny
Balbuk
The lives of Aboriginal
and Torres Strait
Islander peoples were
profoundly changed by
the arrival of British
Yagan’s
colonists in 1788… Bilin Bilin
Story
Indigenous people
responded in a variety
of ways… Here we
present four of these
stories
The
Coniston
Massacre

4. Yagan’s story
Read a brief summary of
Yagan’s story then read
Cressida Fforde’s detailed
overview of what happened to
Yagan and how Ken Colburn
helped to bring Yagan’s head
back to Australia.
Ken Colburn talks about the
Note, depending on your Internet service, the video
part he played in this may take a few minutes to download.
remarkable story and how he
felt about it Click on the
image to the right and watch
the short video.
More background on Yagan
can be found in Wikipedia

5. The Coniston Massacre
This is a story from 1928 at
Coniston Station in Central
Australia. Read an overview of
this historical event to gain an
insight into why it happened.
Theresa Napurrula Ross is the
holder of this story through her
family line. Listen to her story Note, depending on your Internet service, the video may take a
few minutes to download.
in the video by clicking on the
image to the right.

6. Bilin Bilin
Bilin Bilin was a leader in
his community and took on
the responsibility of liaising
with the early settlers.
Read a short overview of
his story.
Some items found that are
related to Bilin Bilin and the
time he lived can be viewed
here

7. Fanny Balbuk
Fanny Balbuk is remembered for her protests against the
occupation of her traditional lands by white settlers.
Information passed on through the Noongar people was
influential in gaining native title rights to metropolitan Perth
and surrounding areas in 2006.
The traditional lands that Fanny Balbuk used to walk across
no longer exist – see an example here.
More information about Fanny Balbuk and the period she
lived in was recorded by Daisy Bates, an Irish migrant to
Australia in 1884. Bates published her observations of life
at that time in ‘The Passing of the Aborigines’ (London
1938). Chapter 7: Last of the Bibbulmun Race refers to
Balbuk.